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Library Security Guards are not Goons

The library accused of hiring militia type security to protect library workers has reported that the allegations are untrue. The follow-up article is from the Canton Reporter\"We are totally unarmed,” said Ed Bean, a spokesman for Troy, Mich.-based Huffmaster Companies. “We don’t even carry nightsticks. In the public sector, you don’t want any offensive weapons whatsoever.”

\"Bean was responding to comments made Wednesday by Anne Mueller, lead negotiator for the Service Employees International Union Local 925 in Cleveland. She said the guards will be carrying weapons “to intimidate us.”

\"On Thursday, she added: “The plan by Huffmaster is to get in people’s faces and intimidate them.” Mueller said her information came from a source who attended a management meeting on Wednesday, but she would not name that person.\"

\"Daniel Sciury, president of the Greater Stark County AFL-CIO Council, echoed Mueller’s comments Thursday. He also called the library workers “intelligent, sensitive people” who will “do peaceful picketing; mostly informational picketing.”

“We’re a big bunch of goons and there are plenty of people in Ohio who would tell you that,” Bean said sarcastically. “... We won’t even spit on (picketers).”

\"The library hired the firm to provide security at the Main Library on Market Avenue N and nine satellite locations. The library is paying the company guards $17.75 an hour; additional company employees may work inside the branches to keep the system operating, said Marge Baker, assistant library director.\"

Baker said the district has not decided whether to hire Huffmaster employees to work inside the library.\"